Drift on Down
by The Guest Girl
Summary: An earthquake. A missing member. Trapped under rocks and debris, the Team faces things that they never dreamed of. Oneshot. Rated for minor language and possible character death. Loosely based off of Here I Am by LifeSucksMusicDoesn't. This is my first attempt at righting a sad story. Please come tell me how I did!


**Warning: Possible Character Death. There. You have been warned. Now you can't complain about it in the reviews.**

Merry-Go-Round

It had been a spy mission on a few dealers of Kobra Venom. A simple recon mission. Nothing had gone wrong almost the entire time. Things had gotten complicated when Robin and Zatanna found an entrance to a small underground tunnel system in the shed out back of the house they where searching. The Team had all gone to investigate the find. Aqualad had been the last to enter, and had stayed near the exit.

That's when it became really complicated.

Wave after wave came. The Earth moved like the ocean during a monsoon. It threw the Team around the cave where the dealers had been hiding their supplies. Finally it stopped. The cavern stilled its restless churning, leaving the Team encased in pitch black.

"Uhn… What happened?" Artemis asked.

"W-was that an earthquake?" Came the timid voice of Ms. Martian.

"Yeah. Along with a few aftershocks," Kid Flash said.

"Well, is it over?" Superboy's voice floated through the air from the same direction as Ms. M's. A dim blue light started to glow near the side of the cave, accompanied by the sound of clicking keys.

"I think so. None of my sensors are picking up anything other than that last wave." Robin said.

"Hey Z, why don't you give us some more light?" Rocket asked.

"On it. _Ekam a llab fo thgil._" As soon as Zatanna had muttered the spell, a ball of light the size of her fist appeared in the middle of the space. All of them blinked in the sudden light, and then took in their surroundings. They where surrounded by the rubble of the tunnel, as well as pieces of the shed in which the tunnel entrance had been concealed.

"Is everyone okay?" Robin asked, his strangely calm voice filling the silence.

"I think I sprained my wrist, but I'll live." Rocket reported. The rest had similar injuries, ranging from bumps and bruises, to cuts and sprains. Over all, the team was in pretty good sha-

"Wait! Where's Kaldur?" Conner looked at the others. The Team froze. They began to search franticly for their leader. Then Zatanna gasped. Everyone ran over to see what she had found.

A single webbed hand stuck out from under the rocks that used to be the entrance.

With a strangled cry, Robin and Kid Flash rushed forward, shifting the rocks away from their friend. Kid turned on the rest of the Team, who had been watching in shock.

"Aren't you going to help?!" He shouted.

"R-right. Right." Megan began to use her telekinesis to make sure that the walls did not cave in further. Superboy lifted a large bolder up and away. Slowly, pain-stakingly, they took away the rocks and debris, until finally; they pulled him away from the rubble.

He was bleeding badly from multiple places. His chest was as collapsed as the cave they were in. His arms were twisted the wrong way. Both of his legs had been pinned under the largest rock. Below the knee, there was almost nothing left except a mess of blood and small pieces of bone. Just looking at it made them sick.

"I-is he..?" Megan asked, on the verge of tears.

"No, he's alive. I can hear a heart beat." Conner said.

"Come on, man. Wake up for us." Wally sat down next to Kaldur, propping his head up on his leg. Robin sat down next to Wally. They stared at the weak rise and fall of his injured chest for what seemed to be hours.

Suddenly he started to cough. Wally pulled him closer to himself and Rob. They held him until he quieted. Then they relaxed. Kaldur blinked and looked around slowly at his team.

"May I inquire as to why everyone is staring at me?" he asked in a weak voice.

"How ya feeling, Kal?" Robin asked gently. The leader looked at their youngest member. He closed his eyes for a moment. They began to think that he had fallen asleep again. Then he opened his eyes. Hesitant, he answered.

"I-I am ashamed to show weakness… but my legs hurt. A-and my arms. And…every thing hurts."

"It's alright to admit it." KF said gently.

"I-I am also quite… fatigued." Kaldur said as his eyes fluttered. Wally began to panic.

"Nonononono. Do _not_ fall asleep on us now, Kaldur." His speed began to show in his voice in his anxiety.

"Surely the best escape for what ails me in rest…" the Atlantien said weakly.

"No. you have to stay awake now, Kal." Rob said with the worry plain in his voice. "I activated my tracer. The League will be here soon. Then you can rest, after they've seen to you. K?"

The dark skinned boy nodded weakly. He began to cough again, his body racking. A splotch of red appeared on KF's costume. The fit lasted for some time before the coughs died away.

"I am sorry Kid." He mumbled, his voice hoarse.

"It's all right Kal."

Suddenly the earth began to tremble. Robin cursed under his breath.

"No! Not now! Any time but now."

"Aftershock!" Superboy shouted.

"Rocket! Throw up a shield!" Robin shouted.

The earth began to buck and kick as the bubble of kinetic energy encased them. The shield dampened the effects, but not enough.

Kaldur cried out in pain as the earth moved under him. Wally and Robin draped themselves around him, trying to use their bodies as cushions against the raging force. After what seemed like hours, but was probably only moments, it stopped.

There was one thing the Team never expected from their leader. One thing that they never dreamed of seeing him doing. But he was doing it now. The injured Atlantien in their midst was crying. Gasping in pain, tears streaking down his face, he cried out.

"W-what is happening?! It hurts! Make it stop. Please."

"Shhh, Kal. It's all right. Everything will be all right." Wally said comfortingly. "You just have to be strong, until the League comes.

"They will not make it in time. You above all know that they are almost always late."

"Maybe." Rob chuckled before growing serious once more. "But this time, this time they will be here." He grasped one large webbed hand in his small one.

The rest of the team looked on in silence, watching the three interact. They where like brothers. They had a bond that could not be broken. The speedster, the bird, and the Atlantian. Wally, who had always been reckless, and too fast, was gentle and slow as he propped up his friend. Robin, always one step ahead, always quick to act, was worried and unsure. And then there was Kaldur, their fearless leader, always sure of what to do, always with a plan. And now he was lying, defenseless, injured, _crying,_ there on the ground.

"How can you be so sure? Please, tell my king-"

"No. You tell him," Wally said, not letting him finish.

"But-"

"Remember, Kal, No buts." Rod chided.

Another tremor shook the cave. With another cry of pain, the Atlantian's tears started anew.

"Hey, Kaldur. Stop that. Be strong." Rob said giving the hand he held a squeeze.

"I must ask. Do either of you remember that old Atlantian lullaby that I taught you, long ago? I believe it was _Drift on Down_. I-I wish to hear it… one last time."

"Don't talk that way!" Rob said, now crying along with Aqualad.

"Yeah man. You'll hear it plenty of times after this." Wally added. But Kaldur was insistent.

"Please. Can you sing it for me?"

With a sad smile, the speedster of the group pulled their leader still closer, and began to rock back and forth. Then, for the second time in a few moments, the team was shocked.

Wally began to sing;

_Drift on down to the merry-go-round,_

_Let it take you away. _

_Let it bring you far from all your fears,_

_And sail far away... _

_Oh, Poseidon, quiet your cries._

_Make still the raging monsoon. _

_Let peaceful night embrace you,_

_In the light o' the moon_

_Then come and_

_Drift on down to the merry-go-round,_

_Let it take you away. _

_Let it bring you far from all your fears,_

_And sail far, far away. _

As he sang, Kaldur relaxed. The tension left his body. And Wally continued to sing.

_Oh, Man of the sea, _

_Let go of your strife._

_Let dawn rise bright and blue._

_Go and live the quiet life. _

_For then you can_

_Drift on down to the merry-go-round,_

_Let it take you away. _

_Let it bring you far from all your fears,_

_And sail far, far away. _

Kaldur's eyes began to flutter. Robin joined in the song as the hand he held went limp.

_Oh, little Atlantian, _

_Page of the sea._

_Let the creatures of the ocean deep, _

_Carry you down,_

_To the Merry-Go-round_

_Where you can let it take you away_

_Let it bring you far from your fears,_

_To sail far, far away._

Finally the shallow pained breaths stopped. His eyes closed for the last time. His body quieted.

Tears streaming down their faces, Robin and Wally sang on.

_Keep peaceful the sea. _

_And as you drift off to sleep,_

_Know that we love you._

As the song ended, there was silence.

Tears rolling down his face, Conner walked over to one of the larger boulders that they had moved. With a roar, Conner smashed the rock in half. He continued to pummel the stone as he sobbed.

Zatanna and M'gann hugged, crying into each other's shoulders.

"God damn it!" Artemis said, smashing her fist against the wall of Rockets bubble. "Damn it, damn it, damn it!"

Rocket herself floated in the middle of the tunnel, maintaining her bubble. She wiped away the tears that were rolling down her face, silent except for a few sniffles here and there.

Robin rested his head on Wally's shoulder, his body racking with silent sobs. Wally let his head fall on to Rob's as he stroked Kaldur's arm. They sat and watched their tears falling on dead ears. They sat as he began to grow cold. They sat, listening to the sobs of their team mates, to the rocks being smashed into a million pieces, to the pounding of a desperate fist on unfeeling walls. They sat, letting these things become one with them, until there where no more tears to shed. They sat until the sobbing stopped, until there were no more rocks to be smashed, until the fist stopped pounding. They sat until there was nothing. Nothing but the echo of a song.

_Drift on down to the merry-go-round,_

_Let it take you away. _

_Let it bring you far from all your fears,_

_And sail far, far away._

**A/N: This is my first attempt at righting a depressing fanfic. It's loosely based off of a story by the name of Here I Am by LifeSucksMusicDoesn't. Go check it out. But first review and tell me what you thought of mine.**

**I like how the song turned out, even though it seems more like a poem when I read it over. **

**I need to stop writing so long into the night. It's messing with my head. I can't type straight. Thank god for spell check!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own YJ. If I did I would be rich and I wouldn't have to deal with home work. I do not own the original plot for this story either. That belongs to LifeSucksMusicDoesn't. **


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